MOSCOW. July 5 (Interfax-AVN) - It is "hard to overstate" the importance of the plans by Russia and the U.S. to reduce strategic offensive weapons (SOW) and to signs new agreements in this area, said Major General Vladimir Dvorkin, chief research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
"The reached agreement is a breakthrough, which could intensify the strategic dialogue between the two nuclear superpowers and cover both strategic offensive weapons and antimissile defense," Dvorkin told Interfax-AVN, commenting on the statement made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice following the U.S.-Russian summit in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The joint statement shows both sides' consent to use such provisions of the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty-1 that will ensure transparency in the assessment of the current and future state of the nuclear arsenals of the two countries.